Marcelino files affidavit to incriminate De Lima

A six-page affidavit was filed by former Anti-Narcotics enforcement officer Marine Lt. Col. Ferdinand Marcelino containing vital information that could further support the drug charges against currently detained Senator Leila De Lima.

Marcelino was detained in the Armed Forces detention center on January last year until his release last week for drug possession charges.

Marcelino was arrested along with Chinese informant Yan Yi Shou in a raid in Sta. Cruz, Manila last year. The Manila Regional Trial Court then dismissed the complaint against the Marcelino and Tan citing that the complaint lacked sufficient evidence.

According to his affidavit obtained by The Star, Marcelino stated that he was part of planning the raid inside the New Bilibid Prisons (NBP) led by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA).

Marcelino had participated in meetings together with officials with the concerned agencies as a representative for the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP). He had also mentioned that he had personally shared intelligence information with then Justice Secretary Leila De Lima stating that 70 percent of the drugs trade in the country was being facilitated inside the NBP.

“I was surprised upon learning that a raid was conducted in the New Bilibid Prisons on 15 December 2014 led by the DOJ Secretary De Lima. The ISAFP was excluded in the raid and the ensuing investigation even though the original plan was for the ISAFP to conduct a forensic examination of the contraband including cell phones,” read the affidavit.

Marcelino’s affidavit was supposed to be presented before the House Justice Committee hearing on the NBP drug last year, however, lawmakers had disapproved of incorporating the said testament.

Marcelino also raised why the Jaybee Sebastian was not transferred to the NBI detention center along with the other convicted inmates

He also revealed in his affidavit that while he was being detained at the Philippine National Police detention center last year, De Lima paid him a visit in order to discuss the raid and dismantling of a shabu laboratory in Camiling, Tarlac. Marcelino, who has been conducting counterintelligence operations revealed that he was aiming to reveal a possible political link of the syndicate working in the laboratory in Tarlac.

De Lima, on the other hand, accused Marcelino of entering a deal with the government to testify against her in exchange for his acquittal. Marcelino’s lawyer, Public Attorney’s Office Chief Persida Rueda-Acosta had denied the allegations.